Game review: Soul Calibur 5

Soul Calibur 5, released Jan. 31 for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, is a good game to start with for a player new to the series.

The visuals and graphics are stunning, even items such as the lip movements of the characters. This shows that Namco actually took time on this game and didn’t pump it out quickly to make a fast buck.

Character creation and online gameplay make this game worthwhile.

Character creation in the Soul Calibur series has consistently progressed since first introduced by Soul Calibur 3. Character creation gives players hours of fun coming up with the character’s look, name and fighting style and allows for creative freedom to make whatever kind of character their little gamer hearts desire. Character creation goes one step further by allowing players to unlock more items the more they play the story, arcade and quick battle modes.

Giving the player a reward that’s not just an achievement point or trophy for the sake of having one is, in my opinion, quite clever.

Another great quality about Soul Caliber 5 is its online game play, making Marvel vs. Capcom 3’s online game play look like a joke.

Not only is finding opponents online quick and easy, but you are also able to join lobbies and watch people battle it out. That’s pretty cool I like to place bets on who’s going to win the fight.

Soul Calibur 5 does have its flaws. The three major flaws are mainly in the story mode and battling the CPU.

The story mode, and I’m going to be blunt about this, seems like the developers took someone’s bad Soul Calibur fan fiction and decided to use that as the story mode. The characters are stuck with this two-dimensional feel to them and the voice acting is bland.

What makes it worse is that the characters don’t have back stories. In games such as Tekken or Street Fighter they give players a bit of insight on the characters. We’re told who they are and what their struggles are, which helps when you’re trying to keep someone interested in your video game.

This makes not only the characters more three dimensional but doesn’t leave you wondering, “Why should I care about any of these random people?”

Now, when it came to battling the CPU my frustration level has never been any higher. Unlike a real fight or even any good fighting game the offensive and defensive moves serve a purpose in the overall fight.

In Soul Calibur 5 you’re almost forced to stay on the offensive when battling the CPU because it seems no matter what level of difficulty you set the game on it will make battling the CPU seem like it’s on extreme veteran hardcore mode. Basically, staying on the defensive won’t help you in this fight.

In the end, for the faults that Soul Caliber 5 has, the graphics, character creation and online game play do make up for it. I was actually a bit surprised considering how I am not one to usually give a games graphics such praise that it makes up for the overall poor quality of the story and fighting the brutal CPU. This game is challenging, and the tutorial is nonexistent, but in the end, this game will keep your attention and make you wanting more.

I give it: Four out of five stars

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